Winter Waking

Not too inspired lately to write nor take pictures, despite having some ideas for blog posts rumbling around in my brain. So I'll stick to short updates for now:

My birthday came and went. Drank cheap beer at the pub and ate frozen (birthday) cake from the grocery store next door while doing it. I'm still a Capricorn, because if I'm going to believe bullshit it doesn't matter if it's wrong.

Two of our laying hens went broody so we had to sequester them for several days in the dog kennel. As a result our 1-year-old dog got a trial run sans-kennel, and everything seems to have worked favorably (our hens are laying again, our dog hasn't destroyed anything but the wet garbage can).

I officially started a new position with the university where only part of my time is dedicated the the company I used to work for. This is beneficial to everyone including the company, who no longer pays my whole salary (but still has expertise/an extra set of hands when needed) and myself since the hard-negotiated benefits are better at the university (maternity leave at 95% salary for 17 weeks + I get to take one course per semester for free!). I am actively working on the paperwork needed for a giant tax benefit for scientific research companies (company offered me a bonus upon completion as well as a new MacBook Pro!) AND a new company website. We've started training some new students too, so lots to do.

And at the house, our little operation is humming along slowly. The subfloors are all up and hubby (who has returned to school for a short bit due to apprenticeship) has repaired all the holes where old chimneys or whatnot used to run through. We've been budgeting and planning and eating really well. This morning for breakfast I ate this baked oatmeal and it was delicious! Cranberries from our farmers market, organic apples/raisins (I dried the apples in my dehydrator), eggs from our chickens all cooked up then drizzled with local maple syrup (Xmas gift from my sis). Mmmm, I brought a second piece to work and I'm going to go eat it now...